upbeatmeeting

Having written plenty about his parents, I felt it relevant to post this summary of the life of the man himself, General Lasalle. I originally posted the content of this post to a Fandom wiki for a Napoleonic community here on Tumblr, however as I have been repeatedly fighting that wiki's closure for some time now, I thought I would simply place it here as well, where it might also benefit my readers alongside a significantly decreased chance of disappearing into the void at random intervals.

So, without further ado, a very non-concise text to be called a summary.

↪ A soldier at eleven: Lasalle's childhood and early career

[ Lasalle's birthplace: Hôtel de Gournay, Metz, France. ]

Antoine-Charles-Louis de Lasalle was born on 10 May 1775 at the family home, the Hôtel de Gournay, in Metz, France. In childhood he was noted to be a rowdy child, beating up other children in the streets and finding a talent for leadership and violence at an early age. His father, Pierre-Nicolas de Lasalle, himself a soldier, found for him a position as a replacement second lieutenant in the Alsace Infantry Regiment, and so his military career began at just age 11 in 1786.

This position was an apprenticeship of sorts during which the boy learned to be a soldier, and this lasted 5 years until 1791, when he received his first commission as a sous-lieutenant in the 24th Cavalry Regiment at 16 years old.

↪ An interlude in Paris: Lasalle and the Revolution

Lasalle's first commission did not last long, in part due to the repression of the nobility and due to the disintegration of discipline in that particular regiment, and by 1792 he had been forced to resign and fled to Paris with his father. Throughout the revolution members of his extended family were arrested as suspects and for assisting emigres, including his father, who was imprisoned for 2 months under a false accusation by order of a decree that never existed.

In Paris, Lasalle joined the Comité Militaire of the Section des Piques and did regular guard duty to prove his loyalty to the revolutionary cause. Around this time he stopped using his full name, only using it for formal documents, and went by Charles Lasalle for the rest of his life. In 1794 he had finally proven himself and had obtained a certificate of loyalty from the section, and this allowed him to re-enlist in the regular army. He began as a volunteer in the battalion of his section sent to the Army of the North, and in February was assigned to the 23rd Chasseurs. In March of the same year he had already been promoted to the rank of Maréchal-des-logis, and in 1795 was promoted to lieutenant.

↪ Beginnings of infamy: The Italian Campaign

[ Chef d'escadron Lasalle at Rivoli, by Victor Huen. ]

During the Italian Campaign he was assigned to the staff of then-General François-Christophe Kellermann, who he claimed would "hit him with a stick if he ate more than a single chop of mutton", and later to the staff of Adjutant-General François-Etienne Kellermann. After a brief period in captivity during which he flattered his captors, he was assigned to the staff of then-General André Masséna. In 1796, at the age of 21, he was promoted to captain. He earned his next promotion to chef d'escadron in 1797, when he went behind enemy lines to engage in a romantic relationship with an Italian noblewoman and obtained information about the strength and organisation of the enemy forces, reporting it to Napoleon on his return. At the Battle of Rivoli he made a name for himself for the first time by capturing five enemy standards and forcing a battallion to surrender with only 26 men.

↪ Want and loneliness: The Egyptian Campaign

Lasalle was personally invited by Napoleon to take part in the Egyptian campaign, and embarked with General Desaix with his regiment. In Egypt Lasalle continued his daring streak, distinguishing himself by holding back numerically superior enemies and at one point dropping his sabre, dismounting to pick it up and remounting to continue fighting in the midst of battle. It is in Egypt that he cut down an enemy soldier trying to kill General Davout, broke his sword and both pistols, took a wounded dragoon's sword as a replacement and continued the fight.

However, the harsh conditions took their toll on Lasalle. He lamented in letters to his mother and then-mistress Joséphine about missing his family, a lack of pomade making his hair fall out, and other miseries of campaigning on the other, very hot, end of the world. There is some debate to be had about whether Lasalle went willingly at all: he confided his concerns about leaving his family, and particularly his fragile mother who he feared may not survive the separation, to Desaix, who convinced him to go anyway, which can quite easily be read as peer pressure. Tragically, he was right, and his mother died just months before his return.

↪ Happy returns: Lasalle's personal life in France

[ Joséphine d'Aiguillon, by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1812. ]

In 1800 Lasalle returned to France and was promoted to Colonel of the 10th Regiment of Hussars, also receiving a pair of pistols and a sword of honour from Napoleon. He had been engaged in an affair with Joséphine d'Aiguillon, wife of General Victor-Léopold Berthier, but their letters were captured by the British and published as a way to create scandal. Joséphine divorced Berthier and Lasalle proposed. They were married in 1803, not without some interesting financial difficulties, and in 1806 Joséphine gave birth to their daughter. She already had three sons from her previous marriage, who Lasalle treated as his own and petitioned to officially adopt. He was noted to be a loving husband, and told General Thiébault that he was not afraid of death so long as his family would want for nothing.

↪ The hussar general and his infernal brigade: Campaigns of Poland and Prussia

[ Lasalle receiving the capitulation of Stettin, by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1808. ]

Lasalle had been promoted to Général de Brigade in 1805, and in 1806 he was assigned a brigade made up of the 5th and 7th Regiments of Hussars. This would later be termed the "Brigade Infernale", and with it he captured the gendarmes of the guard of the King of Prussia, forced the Prince of Hohenlohe to surrender at Prenzlau, and captured the fortress of Stettin (a stronghold with a garrison of 10,000 men) with only 500 cavalrymen who would not have been able to beseige it if the bluff that Lannes' entire corps was present had not worked. The commander of Stettin was later sentenced to life imprisonment for surrendering so easily. Later that year at Golymin, when his brigade fled from the enemy, he rallied them furiously and made them stand within the cannon range of the enemy as punishment, with himself at their head as horses were shot from under him.

In December 1806 Lasalle was promoted to Général de Division, and in 1807 appointed the commander of the light cavalry of the reserve. At the Battle of Heilsburg, he finds Prince Murat surrounded by Russian dragoons and cuts them down. Later in the battle, Murat returned the favour by saving him in a similar situation. The following year he was awarded the Knight's cross of the Order of the Iron Crown by Napoleon.

↪ Unexpected cruelty: The Peninsular War

In 1808 Lasalle was sent to Spain under the command of Marshal Bessières. This campaign exemplified one of his greatest flaws, this being his willingness to resort to extreme violence to get his way. In June he had Torquemada burnt and looted for defying him, later returning for dinner, and was said to have committed various atrocities while in Spain, as did many of his colleagues. In July at the Battle of Medina del Rio Seco he ensured victory by charging the enemy and pursuing them, the entire baggage train of the enemy falling into French hands. In September 1808 he was appointed Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour (having previously been made a commander in 1804) and made a Count of the Empire. At the Battle of Burgos he took four standards and nine cannon. The Battle of Medellin in 1809 was among his most glorious, with him commanding the entire light cavalry and an infantry division. Here he steamrolled the enemy's centre, cutting down everything that resisted him and allowing time for the French army to organise.

↪ Not quite invincible: Lasalle's final campaign

[ Lasalle's last charge at Wagram, by Édouard Detaille, 1912. ]

Lasalle left Spain to take command of a fine division in Austria, distinguishing himself as usual at Essling and by besieging Raab (where Napoleon thought it a fine idea to give him cannons). On the morning of 6 July 1809, Lasalle found his favourite pipe smashes, along with the glass in the frame of a portrait of his wife. Despite never being a particularly spiritual man, Lasalle took this as a premonition, and said to Coëtlosquet: "I will not survive this day". He had his will, which he had written in Spain, delivered to the Emperor, pleading with him to have it executed.

During the battle he found himself in command of Masséna's cavalry after Bessières was incapacitated, including the 1st Regiment of Cuirassiers. When, near the end of the day, he had not yet been in action, he asked to be allowed to engage, and it is with this regiment that he charged a regiment of Hungarian grenadiers. Ironically, when observing the Danube just days before, it is this regiment that he had spotted through the trees. He was hit in the chest and then between the eyes, being killed instantly.

Coëtlosquet summoned Larrey, the Surgeon-General, out of grief, but he could only "explore the wound gently with his finger and confirm death". Lasalle's final letter to his wife stated the values he had always lived by: "My heart belongs to you, my blood to the Emperor, my life to honour".

↪ A legend's legacy: After Lasalle's death

[ Statue of Lasalle in Lunéville, unveiled in 1893. ]

Lasalle's will reveals him to have amassed a small fortune in the service of France. He left to his sons several domains and properties with an annual income of about 50,000 francs, and to his daughter several more properties. In the end, however, they received a mere fraction of this sum after the Restoration. His daughter, Joséphine-Charlotte, married Michel Yermoloff, a Russian General, while his sons received in the end a pension of 1000 francs per year to be shared between the three of them, to be inherited by three generations only. Even Lasalle's sister, Madame de Garsault (the wife of that Garsault of the King's Guard), received a larger pension for herself from Napoleon (1200 francs per year) when she was found to be destitute after the Revolution!

Following the battle, Lasalle was initially buried at the St. Marx Cemetery in Vienna. His grave there was vandalised, and it was not until 1891 that his descendants petitioned for his remains to be brought back to France. This petition was successful and Lasalle was interred in the vault at Les Invalides. Two years later, in 1893, a statue of him was unveiled with great ceremony in Lunéville. This town was chosen as Metz, his birthplace, had become Prussian territory following the Franco-Prussian War.

↪ In conclusion

There are a great number of things to say about Lasalle's life, and this is but a simplified summary despite it still being rather long because I am bad at prioritising information (I never promised to be concise on this blog!). Besides, I originally wrote this summary mostly for myself as a quick reference without considering the implications of my excessive wordcount, and this is also why it is a little different from the usual style. One could say it is just here for safekeeping until I one day write a better one.

Of course, as always, I am entirely open to questions and suggestions for further posting, although it should be noted that I am presently melting in a county sandwiched between several wildfires on a certain overly hot island, which has significantly hampered my progress in several projects.

I didn't believe I would miss Bob Burnham's old Napoleon Series discussion forum as much as I do.

During its lengthy run, this forum averaged more than thirty posts each day on a variety of topics from almost all imaginable viewpoints and all sorts of nationalities. Additionally, the participants were historians with degrees, researchers with multilingual skills, reenactors, wargamers, uniform specialists, and artists, all of whom knew a thing or two, and were usually very happy in the weeds. Aside from arguments, some heated, some snarky [that was almost always me], some weighty and measured, we could count on the fact that we had only a minuscule number of uneducated fools to deal with. It is one thing to disagree with someone’s opinion, well-stated and well-researched, and quite another to suffer through a comment/post from someone who offers only garbage from Wikipedia or AI, too stupid to know where the inaccuracies are.

I disliked two things about Burnham, however. The first was his utterly misguided insistence on forbidding anyone to write and post book/article reviews that were analogous to the Amazon/Goodreads one- and two-star shellackings of what is, in truth, crap. This prohibition sailed much too close to the Southern grandmotherly admonition about saying nothing at all if one can’t say anything nice. Not only is that simply stupid, but it is also intellectually dishonest. The second thing is closing the forum because he claimed the original platform was past its prime, could not be sustained, was too expensive and too convoluted to change, and offered other typical excuses from men who are not tech-savvy and who no longer want the responsibility. As bad as that was, the true kiss of death was turning over the remnants of the once great forum to a thoroughly Brit-centric kid barely past acne and an advanced degree/studies centered solely on Wellington and his army, in—wait for it!—the Peninsula Wars.

The successor forum, TheNapoleonicWars.net, despite its desperate attempts to attract an audience and thus become relevant, manages on average five posts weekly from only a handful of folks who consistently play in the same anti-French, pro-British and Austrian sandbox. Its favorite experts are a Scots lass with a charming accent who does podcast episodes on the Marshalate, relying solely on questionable secondary sources; a female Dutch academic whose areas of expertise include international relations, terrorism and political violence, radicalism, and national security, and who ties herself in knots to translate some of the into a Napoleonic context – right up there with insisting Napoleon was a dictator just like Stalin and Hitler; and a military historian/psychiatrist claiming that Napoleon suffered from narcissistic derangement, probably bi-polar, and suffering from PTSD. Nothing like adding a bit of psychobabble to the witches' brew.

In fairness and transparency, the Brit-centric administrator banned me from this group after less than a year. Apparently, he disliked my demanding proof of quite a few statements by posters and arguing certain points without filters.

The other alleged Napoleonic site with a fair amount of traffic is “Generals and Napoleon,” which offers very little other than pirated filler like “OTD in History,” “Did You Know…?, and daily reprehensible AI “artwork,” about which many viewers have complained, to no avail. This site also offers episodes on YouTube, but unfortunately, borrows some of the very same [non]experts from White’s website. The administrator of the G and N clearly doesn’t vet the snippets of information he posts for accuracy; I could work full-time as an editor for him.

I did get carried away, I’m afraid, but I feel better.

Things that should eventually occur over there (subject to life trying to end me again) include:

Duels!

The odd and very small world of the Lasalles and Kellermanns,

Davout, Lasalle, and a few too many missing horses,

Misconceptions that have permeated pop culture but have actually been taken wildly out of context, and alternatives that are equally as cool,

251 years of haunting Metz, riding horses into ballrooms, getting away with literally anything and being annoyed at Davout's staff officers. And then being misinterpreted and mistranslated by history.

Happy birthday, Lasalle!

Does anyone know the movie 《The duellists》? 🥹

Now, does anyone know the true story or the true antagonists?

@upbeatmeeting - shall we?

Fournier and Dupont. A 30 year grudge that started because of this man right here sending an order via Dupont to Fournier:

Fournier demanded a rematch of this duel, believing it to have been conducted unfairly. And somehow, this rematch descended into a saga of 19* years (it's 30 duels over 19 years, I believe), because no one is capable of being normal in this army.

Dupont, eventually, managed to force him to promise not to bother him again after a final duel, but here's some interesting things that happened to Fournier in the meantime (followers of @a-historical-companion can expect a more properly written post on this at some point hopefully over the summer, this is only a bullet point list):

Demoted due to financial dishonesty and going AWOL apparently several times,

Taken back on as an aide-de-camp to Augereau,

Oh wait, got caught up in la mystérieuse affaire Donnadieu and was arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy against the First Consul,

Back again! This time leading an expedition under Magon de Médine,

oh wait he never even disembarked and just went back to France never mind,

Taken on by the one, the only, General Lasalle as chief of staff, because Lasalle saw the chaos and went "oh yeah I need more of that in my life",

Publicly snubbed by Napoleon at a review in 1807, who pretended not to know of his existence (probably instead knowing far too much) or service record and instead told him that his misdeeds had to be washed away in a baptism of blood (extra),

Actually did something good for himself and distinguished himself at Eylau, Guttstadt and Friedland,

Had a dragoon orderly turn up to a party with an order that needed his signature, instead had the orderly stand on the other end of the room and shot the order as signature, awarding the orderly 40 francs as reward for not flinching, then a wine bottle for suggesting another shot as "an initial",

Went to Spain and defended a town against 20,000 attackers with only 1,500 men,

You'd think he's basically reformed by now and is doing fine, right?

lol

Cut an aide-de-camp across the face with a sabre and was once again suspended,

But too bad the Emperor needed him too much so he was reinstated and did some more decent stuff in the Peninsula,

Went to Russia, managed an entire campaign without causing excessive trouble,

Was appointed Count of the Empire...

and then demoted again after getting into an argument with Napoleon,

Was sent to prison for defeatism, was attacked by Cossacks on the way, fought them off and demanded the escort continue towards the prison,

Somehow convinced the Restoration government to give him his rank back, no idea how that one happened,

Became inspector-general of cavalry or something.

Never a dull moment with these hussars.

don't forget - the end of that series of duels, IIRC, ended up with Dupont bringing a pistol to a sword duel and going "RIGHT, THAT IS IT!!" IIRC also - Fournier got his ass kicked each and every time he went up against Dupont, BUT HE WOULD NOT LET IT REST!

Does anyone know the movie 《The duellists》? 🥹

Now, does anyone know the true story or the true antagonists?

@upbeatmeeting - shall we?

Fournier and Dupont. A 30 year grudge that started because of this man right here sending an order via Dupont to Fournier:

Fournier demanded a rematch of this duel, believing it to have been conducted unfairly. And somehow, this rematch descended into a saga of 19* years (it's 30 duels over 19 years, I believe), because no one is capable of being normal in this army.

Dupont, eventually, managed to force him to promise not to bother him again after a final duel, but here's some interesting things that happened to Fournier in the meantime (followers of @a-historical-companion can expect a more properly written post on this at some point hopefully over the summer, this is only a bullet point list):

Demoted due to financial dishonesty and going AWOL apparently several times,

Taken back on as an aide-de-camp to Augereau,

Oh wait, got caught up in la mystérieuse affaire Donnadieu and was arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy against the First Consul,

Back again! This time leading an expedition under Magon de Médine,

oh wait he never even disembarked and just went back to France never mind,

Taken on by the one, the only, General Lasalle as chief of staff, because Lasalle saw the chaos and went "oh yeah I need more of that in my life",

Publicly snubbed by Napoleon at a review in 1807, who pretended not to know of his existence (probably instead knowing far too much) or service record and instead told him that his misdeeds had to be washed away in a baptism of blood (extra),

Actually did something good for himself and distinguished himself at Eylau, Guttstadt and Friedland,

Had a dragoon orderly turn up to a party with an order that needed his signature, instead had the orderly stand on the other end of the room and shot the order as signature, awarding the orderly 40 francs as reward for not flinching, then a wine bottle for suggesting another shot as "an initial",

Went to Spain and defended a town against 20,000 attackers with only 1,500 men,

You'd think he's basically reformed by now and is doing fine, right?

lol

Cut an aide-de-camp across the face with a sabre and was once again suspended,

But too bad the Emperor needed him too much so he was reinstated and did some more decent stuff in the Peninsula,

Went to Russia, managed an entire campaign without causing excessive trouble,

Was appointed Count of the Empire...

and then demoted again after getting into an argument with Napoleon,

Was sent to prison for defeatism, was attacked by Cossacks on the way, fought them off and demanded the escort continue towards the prison,

Somehow convinced the Restoration government to give him his rank back, no idea how that one happened,

Became inspector-general of cavalry or something.

Never a dull moment with these hussars.

Lasalle at Wagram (1809)

Is there likeee any description of what Lasalle looked like with long hair? (I think it was long. Ion remember. I mean like pre-egypt campaign tho)

Having returned from exam season hibernation, I can now answer!

Lasalle, like pretty much all soldiers and especially light cavalrymen, did have long hair during his early career. Egypt, however, had other ideas in the end, and he laments in a letter home that it is falling out due to the climate and the lack of pomade, and he does not appear to have grown it out again after that.

While I don't know of any descriptions, there are three images that come to mind here, though none of them are perfect poses or depictions. Curiously, they are all from the Battle of Rivoli, which I didn't actually notice until writing this post.

1. Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli

The first and likely the most reliable is the well-known painting "Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli" by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux.

Lasalle is the figure on the right sitting on the cannon and pointing at a standard, which is probably one of the 5 he captured that day. The grey horse the man near him is holding is probably his as well, but that's beside the point. This is also the only one that is in colour, so relish that while you can, and further inspection will also reveal a small collection of other famous figures.

2. Chef d'Escadron Lasalle at the Battle of Rivoli

We come next to "Chef d’Escadron Lasalle at the Battle of Rivoli" by Victor Huen. Or at least that's what I'm told it is, as I can't seem to find a reliable source for this image. We'll operate on the assumption it is what it says it is.

I believe that the figure on the right carrying the standard is intended to be Lasalle. Looking quite fearsome in this one, and we do get a better view of his face.

3. Lasalle, le soir de Rivoli

The final image is one I've not come across too often but remembered when this question came in; it is "Lasalle, le soir de Rivoli" by André Marchand.

There is a higher quality but watermarked version here that may prove to be better for detailed viewing, but I wanted to put an unobstructed version in the body of the post.

Obviously, Lasalle is the one sitting with the captured standards. The scene depicted in this image is an extract from the memoirs of General Auguste Colbert, written by his son:

On the evening of the Battle of Rivoli, as trophies of the glorious day were being brought to the commander-in-chief from all sides, Lasalle, pale and weary from the numerous charges he had led, stood near a pile of flags. Bonaparte noticed him: "Lie down on it, Lasalle," he said, "you've earned it."

Traditions et souvenirs, ou Mémoires touchant le temps et la vie du général Auguste Colbert (1793-1809). Tome 1. Par N.-J. Colbert, marquis de Chabanais, son fils

The observant reader might notice the use of the informal "tu" in the original French text. I will have to pay attention to whether Napoleon continues to use informal language with Lasalle after rising to higher power.